Chapter 297

It didn’t take him long to catch another walker. He brought it back to his lair and shoved it inside the Biomass Processor. Currently, the structure took 30 minutes to process a walker. Perhaps, after upgrading it—or evolving, as it seemed a more appropriate term—to the next rank, it would work a bit more efficiently.

There was no point in lingering in his lair for thirty minutes while waiting for the Biomass Processor to finish processing the walker. It was better to use that time to bring more ex-humans to his lair for future processing. With that in mind, he headed out. Once outside the diner, he scanned his surroundings and set off.

For the next thirty minutes, Jake was busy catching walkers and bringing them to his lair. One by one, he fetched three more walkers, dropping them before one of the walls in his lair. Lying on the floor, they writhed and struggled violently, but the cinch nets tightly wrapped around their bodies didn’t allow them to escape.

The Biomass Processor had already finished processing the first walker he had brought. The Hive Nexus had stopped evolving, having consumed all the Biomass transferred to it. Jake gave the structure a quick look-over. It had grown a little, becoming taller and sturdier.

Shifting his attention back to the Biomass Processor, he commanded it to release the processed Biomass. The pitch-black mass emerged from the structure, heading toward the Hive Nexus. He was aware that the evolving structure wouldn’t need such a large amount of Biomass, so the surplus would help expand the existing patch of Corruption, which was fine.

Now that the Hive Nexus was surrounded by the Biomass, it continued to use it to grow, becoming taller and wider. Jake turned his attention to the three ensnared walkers he had just brought. Two of them would be used to evolve the Larvae Chamber and the Biomass Processor to the next rank.

He walked over to the three walkers lying on the floor. They snarled at him, writhing and twisting their bodies, unable to free themselves from their restraints. Jake lifted one of them, draping its body over his shoulder, and returned to the Biomass Processor. With a forceful shove, he pushed the ex-human into the structure and activated it.

At some point, a system message flashed through his mind.

The Hive Nexus has finished its evolution to Rank II.

He glanced at the evolved structure. It was definitely taller and larger than before, but not by much. Just as he expected, the excess Biomass pulled away from the structure and moved toward the nearest edge of the Corruption patch, merging with it and making the corrupted area somewhat wider.

Jake then set the Larvae Chamber to evolve to Rank II as well. When the Biomass Processor finished processing Biomass, the structure released the pitch-black goo, which automatically crawled toward the evolving structure, merging with it and slightly reshaping its form. After some time, the process was complete.

The Larvae Chamber has finished its evolution to Rank II.

Just like the Hive Nexus, the Larvae Chamber had become somewhat larger. It was now time to evolve the final structure to the next rank. Jake turned toward the Biomass Processor, deep in thought. While evolving, a structure couldn’t perform its function, so he needed to have it process some Biomass first. Otherwise, he would have to use his larvae for processing, which would take twice as long as the Biomass Processor usually needed.

He lifted another walker off the floor, leaving one remaining, and shoved the ex-human into the Biomass Processor. Once the structure finished converting the mutant into Biomass, it released the mass. With nowhere to go, it began to drift toward the edge of the Corruption. However, Jake commanded it to halt, and it complied. He had the ability to telepathically control animated Biomass, just as he did with his creatures and structures.

He then ordered the Biomass Processor to evolve to Rank II. The structure started to grow but quickly halted due to a lack of nearby Biomass to consume. The recently released Biomass didn’t move toward it automatically, staying put where it was, following his instructions. He mentally commanded it to move toward the evolving structure, and the mass obeyed. Once it reached the Biomass Processor, the structure continued to grow and evolve.

The process was soon finished, and he was notified about it via a system message.

The Biomass Processor has finished its evolution to Rank II.

So all three structures were now evolved to Rank II. Before examining them to see what changes they had undergone besides growing larger, he first wanted to do something else. He turned to look at the Mana Core. With a thought, he summoned its stats to check a single line.

MP: 43,127

Sure enough, it was reduced by 3,000 MP since each of the three upgrades cost 1,000 MP. While it wasn’t much, the Mana Core had less and less mana. If it completely ran out of magical energy, all the structures in his lair would stop functioning, as they couldn’t operate without mana. He wasn’t sure if they would eventually die and wither to ash like his tentacles did when detached from his body and cut off from the mana source, or if they would simply halt temporarily and resume operating once the Mana Core was replenished with magical energy.

In either case, Jake was determined to prevent the Mana Core from depleting its remaining mana. With that in mind, he stepped closer to the central structure of his lair. How could he recharge the Mana Core? The first thought that struck him was to transfer some of his own mana. It seemed worth a shot.

Before doing it, he checked how much mana he currently had.

MP: 193,273/299,000

He didn’t have much mana left, and if his idea worked, he’d have even less—under half of his total capacity. So, if the transfer was successful, he would definitely need to head out and replenish his mana reserves. It also might be a good idea to bring some mana consumables to his lair to ensure he always had a supply for future use.

Jake focused on the Mana Core again and mentally instructed his mana to flow to it. The transfer didn’t occur, but a system message emerged in his mind.

You must be closer to the Mana Core to fill it with mana.

Jake took a couple of steps closer to the structure and attempted the transfer again. Now that just a few feet separated him from the Mana Core, the mana flowed from him toward the structure. He had his arms outstretched toward it, and he could see the bluish magical energy emerge from his palms and flow through the air toward the mana orb, which was secured atop the structure. As the mana orb replenished its magical energy, it brightened the lair, making Jake realize just how much dimmer the basement had grown due to the orb’s mana consumption.

A few seconds later, the process was finished.

– 56,873 MP

So he could easily transfer mana from himself to the Mana Core to refill it. It was reassuring to know. He checked the Mana Core once more and saw it had returned to 100,000 MP. Next, he assessed his own mana reserves.

MP: 136,400/299,000

It wasn’t much at all. It was definitely time to head out once more to replenish his mana reserves.